Pages

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Thankful Thursday - Precooked Rice

It was actually our last day at POSCO today, a bittersweet ending to 6 weeks of work and weekend trips. On one hand, I'm incredibly thankful that I got to be here. On the other, I will miss my mentors and their laid-back approach to work and schedules, despite their own demanding workloads. They put up with the little Korean we knew (except for our resident translator, of course), assigned us doable tasks and on occasion, even took us out for coffee. They were fun and full of life, talking cheerfully amongst themselves and jokingly teasing each other.

Several of them chuckled at my daily lunchbox, made to save money and reduce my caloric intake (I get sleepy after lunch if I eat too much). The most important component of this lunchbox was the rice. Since we don't have any cooking materials, I purchase cheap precooked rice, which clocks in at either 315 Calories (on the label) or 840 Calories (calculated from 4 Calories/gram of carbohydrates x 210 grams of rice) per box. Quite a discrepancy, I realize. Still, half a box along with some seaweed rice flavoring kept me happy until my snack time, around 3:00-3:30pm.

Grocery stores are my friend.

One of my Korean memories will always remain instant rice, eaten as I look curiously onto my mentors' and friends' lunches, consisting of traditional food along with kimchi and other side dishes. Lunchtime was always a social hour, with the whole office going together to the cafeteria, sometimes joined by other coworkers. Talk (mostly in Korean, occasional English), laughter and chewing would echo around the table, contributing to the din of the crowded room. I did love the cafeteria lunches, when I had to buy them (such as today, actually... I didn't have time this morning), but I loved simply sitting with our mentors more.

감사합니다, POSCO Family. You're an amazing company with amazing employees.